How did David Lynch create the baby in ‘Eraserhead’?
The journey to becoming an acclaimed filmmaker doesn’t typically happen overnight. Due to severe financial difficulties, David Lynch spent over five years making his debut feature, Eraserhead. Yet, he finally secured enough funding to release the film in 1977, introducing the world to his bizarre cinematic world.
Since then, Lynch has become known as the master of surrealist cinema, creating thoroughly acclaimed films like Blue Velvet, The Elephant Man, Mulholland Drive, and the television show Twin Peaks. He has always championed his unique style no matter his budget, but with Eraserhead, the weirdness of his vision was amplified tenfold due to the low-budget constraints.
We follow Henry Spencer, played by the late Jack Nance (who would go on to be one of Lynch’s most regular collaborators), a man struggling with his role as a father. Living in a bleak industrial wasteland, Henry must take care of a child that has emerged as a result of his relationship with his girlfriend, Mary.
Yet, the child isn’t a human. It’s a bizarre creature that looks like an alien, and he feels a kind of disdain for the thing, which hinders his day-to-day life. The creature is a difficult child, and Henry finds it hard to assume the role of a loving parent, which is made even harder by the fact that Mary has upped and left, unable to love the creature.
A series of strange scenes, such as experimental moments where the creature or a woman replaces Henry’s head comes out of the radiator, make Eraserhead a compelling yet confusing watch. It cemented Lynch’s skills as a masterful filmmaker, taking a story of parental anxiety, industrial disillusionment, and sexual confusion and transforming it into a thing of beauty, albeit one that is presented in a twisted, darkly chaotic way.
However, out of all the questions surrounding the film’s plot and surreal images, the most asked concerns the alien-like baby. What exactly is the Eraserhead baby made of?
So, what is the Eraserhead baby made of?
Unfortunately, Lynch has never revealed what the mysterious creature was made of. Fans have been speculating for years; what could have possibly been used to make such a realistic creature that genuinely looks like it’s alive? In the book Lynch on Lynch, the filmmaker claims, “It was born nearby,” refusing to actually explain what it is or how it was made.
The creature has several moving parts, and while it is typically shown with a bandage swaddled around its body, with just its head on full display, we do get to see its insides when Henry kills it, which look like the interiors of an animal.
Some people think it was made with tools like papier-mache or other crafting supplies, but how would it be able to move so realistically? There are viewers who believe that a skinned animal was used – perhaps even one that was still alive. These theories bring into question the ethics of the creature’s origin, and due to Lynch’s reluctance to explain what it is, some fans think he engaged in some animal cruelty in the name of art.
However, we cannot accuse Lynch of such when he has never revealed what he made the creature with. He simply wants us to use our imaginations—it adds to our experience of the film. Still, even the projectionist who worked on the film has no idea—Lynch blindfolded him whenever he was dealing with shots that contained the creature being set up for a sequence. For now, it seems as though we’ll never know.
